Episode Transcript

Episode 17: Gift Wine Judgment Day 00:00

Hello! And welcome to the Wine Pair podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and wine-pairing partner in crime - Carmela. And we are the Wine Pair.

Today, we have a VERY special guest joining us on the podcast - Carmela’s baby brother Mario! Welcome Mario! Say hello! Are you feeling nervous? Excited? How are you feeling about joining the podcast?

And because of our special guest star, we are taking a very different approach to this episode. Normally what we do on our podcast is taste and rate 3 wines that normal people drink, that you should can easily find in your local grocery store or Total Wine or online wine shop, and are priced under $20 in an attempt to help you find wines you like, maybe find something new, or just avoid shitty wine. You listen, right, Mario! Have you learned anything about wine?!?

Do you think people listening to us right now should subscribe?!?

But, today because we have Mario, and he is not the biggest wine fan in the world, we are taking a different tack. We are going to taste 3 wines that Mario has been storing somewhere in his house that have been gifted to him because I don’t think you buy wine, do you, Mario? You have had some actual gems that you have shared with us, including a 2006 Palmes d’Or Champagne. This will be a real wine adventure. And some of these wines have me somewhere between intrigued and frightened

This Episode: Getting Wine as a Gift 02:37

Now, for those of you out there in listening land, you should know that every Sunday night we have a big family dinner. Sometimes we have them at your mom and dad’s, sometimes we have them at our house, sometimes at your brother Fiore’s house, but in the last couple of years, we have started having them Uncle Mario’s house! And everyone loves to go to Uncle Mario’s house, although you are afraid of making a mess. 

What do you call the dinners at your house, Mario?!? (BFD - Basic fucking dinner). And why do you approach your Sunday night dinners that way?

So, when we have dinners at your parent’s house or our house, there is always some fancy shmancy wine of some sort to drink because your dad and I really like wine. But, when we have them at your house, it’s kind of like a wine rummage sale. Like, you have some good wines and some terrible wines, but probably wines that you did not buy, right?!?

Which brings us to the topic of this podcast - everyone that I know has been gifted wine at some time. What are some of the ways you may receive a wine gift?

• Sometimes it’s because you invite someone over for dinner or a party and they bring a bottle
• Sometimes it’s because a company you work for or work with wants to give out a gift, and they give wine
• Sometimes for a Holiday party or birthday, or because you did something nice, a person will just give you wine. 

I think, Mario, that all of these wines have come to you in some sort of way like that, right? Ok, so today we have some totally random wines that have been gifted, some of which I think have been sitting in your basement too long - where do you store these wines, by the way? Which could really affect the wine - too old, too much heat or changing temperature, exposed to light, etc. And, because we will probably never drink them at a Sunday night dinner, and because you don’t really drink wine, we are going to take them off of your hands. 

Broader Topic: A Bit About Our Guest Mario  07:10

Now we are going to get to know a little about Mario

• As I have mentioned, Mario is not the biggest wine fan, but he is a master at several things that the average person may not know and/or has probably not done. So, some questions for you, Mario, so the people at home can get to know you. 
• You were a mountain guide. True or false? Ok, now the harder questions. Where did you do your mountain guiding? For how many summits? Scariest moment?
• You are a semi-pro angler. Yes or no? Ok, now the harder questions. What is the best fishing expedition you have ever been on? What was your most memorable catch? Mario is single for those of you out there in listening land, but I have a very challenging question - what would you choose? Girl of your dreams, but you could never fish again - or - you catch the largest tuna ever known, but you stay single forever?
• Last question on this subject. You have been a mountain climber and a deep sea fisherman. Which one of these is real - Sasquatch or mermaids?

Wine Gifting Etiquette Discussion  11:53

And, now we are going to discuss wine gifting etiquette. I will say that I am not a huge fan of people bringing wines to me when they are visiting. Do you know why, Carmela? Because I generally don’t trust what people bring me - Because I probably won’t like it. 

• You are having people over. One of your guests brings a bottle of wine. Should you drink the wine? What if you hate it? What if you know they have terrible taste in wine? What if someone brings you a stupid fucking Merlot, or a Cabernet?
  • As the host, you are really not obligated to open the wine. Me, I kind of don’t want to because I am really thinking about the wine I want to serve with the food, and I want to make sure everything is of a certain quality. But, I can also understand that people may have different tastes.
• What if you are having people over for a get together and someone brings a bottle of wine AND they open it? Or even worse ask you to open it? We have had people bring wine to our house just so they can open it and drink it which I find pretty fucking rude. 
• Can you regift wine? Regardless of the quality (I will say, the first thing I do is try to figure out how much it cost)? Do you think you have been regifted a wine? Do you think any of the wines were regifts Uncle Mario? What if you regift a wine that you were gifted to the person who actually gifted it to you originally but you don’t remember that they were the ones who gifted it to (pretend you did it on purpose and you just bought the wine you thought they liked)?

5 Rules of Wine Gifting Etiquette  15:27

Let’s actually explore the etiquette of wine giving and getting. Here are 5 rules of wine gifting etiquette that I grabbed from the interewebs

1.  If you bring a bottle of wine, and it is not opened, you cannot take it back! It’s a gift! (Which means the host may regift it!)
2. Do not expect the host to open the wine. It is up to the host to decide. (The WE article points out what I think - the host probably has thought hard about what wine to serve with the food) If you do want to have the wine at that event, particularly if you are also bringing along some food, like an appetizer, tell the host first. 
3. Either bring a nice bottle or ask the host what kind of wine they like (or both). I have a lot of wines that I have been gifted that I will never drink. That’s no fun. 
4. Make sure that a bottle of wine is an appropriate gift for the person you are giving it to. 
5. You may want to put a gift tag on the wine, but don’t write on the label. 

(Some articles that we reference in the episode)

https://www.wineinvestment.com/us/learn/magazine/2019/10/the-etiquette-of-wine-giving/

https://robbreport.com/food-drink/wine/how-to-give-wine-gift-1234583128/

https://www.winemag.com/2021/12/10/wine-gift-etiquette/

Brief overview of the wines we are tasting  18:07

The first is from Eight Bells winery which is located in Seattle and gets a lot of their wines from the Yakima valley. We’ll want to know the story about this one, and all of them, when we start to taste them, but I will say that Eight Bells has gotten some pretty good reviews. The wine we are going to taste is a Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Cabernet Franc added in for good measure. It’s a 2011, so, depending on how it has been stored, it could be ready to drink, or it could end up being way past its prime. Of the three, I think this one has the most promise. 

The second is a Merlot from Jackson Cellars, also from Washington State and located in Richland. This one has the 12th man logo on it from the Seattle Seahawks, and does not have a year. I am excited to hear the story about it, but pretty worried about drinking the wine!

The third is one I am very intrigued by. It is from Serbia and is a semi-sweet red wine. I have no idea how to pronounce it or what to expect, but the bottle is amazing, and it feels like a real adventure. Descbribed on the Grbinich Wines website this way: “This magnificent wine will provide a unique experience if the wine is served with cheddar cheeses, venison, roasted meats and dark-colored braised dishes.  This wine has captivated Serbia for over 40 years.  You will enjoy the best characteristics of this wine if you consume it at 53-59 F.” https://grbinichwines.com/wine/coka-zdrepceva-krv/

https://thepartysource.com/Zdrepceva-Black-Stallion-Semisweet-Wine

And, Mario, because you are new to the podcast, let’s talk a little bit about how we do this. First we give some basic information about the wine. Then we pour each wine, one at a time, and smell it, taste it, talk about the things we are smelling and tasting using normal things that everyone knows - like wood, or cherry, things like that - and then we review it on a 10 point scale. The way I like to think about it is anything 7 and above I would buy, anything 4 and below I would not finish. In the middle, I would drink, but would not be my first choice. Then, after we taste and review these wines, we are going to compare the tastes and smells we think with those of what would be the typical or expected taste profile for each should be. Just to see how we fare. 

Wines and Ratings in this Episode  20:28

Wine: Eight Bells Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: Washington State, Yakima Valley

Producer: Eight Bells

Year: 2011

Price: $25 ?!? (wine.com)

Retailer: N/A

Alcohol: 13.2%

Grapes: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc

Where did you get this wine? Gift from a vendor at Mario’s place of business

What we tasted and smelled: Fire wood, cherry, grape juice, rubbing alcohol, plum, mellow, not complex, sharp, tannin

Rating: Joe  6 Carmela  5  Mario 6

Wine: Jackson Cellars “12” Premium Washington Merlot (bottle shows 12 in Seahawks colors)

Region: Washington

Producer: Jackson Cellars (I can find almost nothing about this wine)

Year: ???

Price: $???

Retailer: N/A

Alcohol: 13%

Grapes: Merlot?!?

Where did you get this wine? Gifted from Uncle Frank Buono, a random act of kindness

What we tasted and smelled: Asparagus, vegetable, grass,, mossy, dirt, fumunda, stankonia, feet, damp high school locker room, vinegar

Rating: Joe  2 Carmela  2  Mario  2

Wine: Zdrepceva Black Stallion Semisweet Red Wine

Region: Serbia

Producer: Coka

Year: ?!?

Price: $9.99 (at The Party Source)

Retailer: N/A

Alcohol: 11%

Grapes: Vranac, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Muscat Hamburg, Frankovka, Gamay

Where did you get this wine? From a teammate at work

What we tasted and smelled: Dove soap, bathroom potpourri spray, perfume, Dove, freezer, sawdust at a job site, wood shavings, barn, dusty, fruit juice, grape juice, sweet, alcohol, strawberry, blueberry. Dessert wine. If you like sweet wines, you will like this wine.

Rating: Joe  2 Carmela  6   Mario 4

Taste profiles expected  40:03

Cabernet

• Black cherry, blackcurrant or cassis (like a tart blueberry), blackberry, cedar, baking spices (like cinnamon, vanilla, clove, and graphite (pencil shavings)
• Tobacco, chocolate, plum, green bell pepper, wood
• Sometimes strawberry, red cherry, or raspberry

Merlot

• Classic flavors are cherry, plum, chocolate, dried herbs, and vanilla
• Washington state merlots from columbia valley often have a black cherry taste, boysenberry, chocolate cream, violet, and mint
• California merlots often have tastes of sweet cherry, sugar plum (so on the sweeter end of the flavors) baking chocolate, vanilla, and desert dust
• Can also include leather, soil, blueberry, fig, fruitcake, strawberry jam, incense, cedar, and baking spices

Black Stallion 

• From the bottle description: velvety blueberry and blackberry with a dark ruby-red color and seductive aroma
• Otherwise, I have no ability to judge

Special thanks to Mario!

Outro and how to find us 42:38

For those of you listening, we would love to hear from you. Tell us what you like and what you don’t like, tell us about some wines you want us to try, tell us if you want to be a guest on our show. Or, just tell us about a wine you love or you hate and we’ll chat it up. You can visit our website at thewinepairpodcast.com and leave a voice message or send us a note. You can comment or reach out on Instagram at @thewinepairpodcast and follow us on Pinterest at thewinepairpodcast. You can reach out to us at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com and we would LOVE to hear your comments. And we hope you’ll subscribe and follow us and tell all your friends and family and enemies and loved ones and everyone!

Thanks for listening to the Wine Pair podcast, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine